Banks will often accept unaudited financial statements compiled by a CPA. They may want to meet with the CPA. They won't accept your "homemade" financials because they most likely don't comply with accepted accounting principles. In other words, you don't know what you're doing but the CPA does. Dep...

Some updates make help your home sell faster. Do you get more? Rarely. What's the difference between a 5 year old kitchen, a 10 year old kitchen, and a 20 year old kitchen, all in good condition? Not much. They all look dated. How about the brand new kitchen you just did? Only helps if the buyer lik...

I don't get this whole thing about fences. If the fence is on your property, you make the decisions and pay for it. If the fence is on your neighbors property, he makes the decisions and pays for it. Why would you pay for a fence on someone else's property and vice-versa? Shouldn't fences be built w...

I enjoyed The Imitation Games, but found it interesting that it was billed as film about the advent of the computer age, when actually to me, it seemed to be more a statement about living in the shadows due to ones' sexual orientation. BFG Just watched it. A very good movie. The blurb across the sc...

The Captain of the Titanic stayed on course too long. :happy I will simply repeat that "stay the course" is a horse racing not a maritime term :happy https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=130693#p1924995 It's rumored Nelson said this at Trafalgar: "Stay the course and damn the torpe...

Have read a wealth of information on real estate investing, but not much that is particular to my situation. Thought I might ask here. Assume you're earning a high income, and maxing out all retirement vehicles each year, plus a lot in taxable accounts, with no debt. Wise idea to max out my persona...

It depends on how big the driveway is. How big is the driveway? My driveway is about 15 feet wide by 40 feet. I do mine myself and use about four 5 gallon containers of good quality sealer from Home Depot. The sealer is about $30 a container. I buy a bottle of crack filler for about $8. So it costs ...

The new units can be tremendously more efficient than the older units. Of course it depends on what the efficiency of your current units are. Still, it will be quite awhile before you get your "payback" on a new installation. From a money standpoint it rarely makes sense to replace if the current un...

53% of our cash earns 2.5% interest in our credit union checking accounts If not a problem, can you say which credit union you are using? I'm piqued by the 2.5% interest rate as my emergency fund is currently earning nothing with BoA savings. I'm in NYC area as well. Using NEFCU - Nassau Educators ...

Why are you doing this? I second this motion. Third. Wife, even fiancee is one thing. Girlfriend is another. It's your money and you can do what you want, just be smart about it. 4x Its your relationship and not sure how long you have been with her, but make sure she doesn't dump you the day she gr...

I will rely on the old standby of 15 times earnings as an approximate measure of a fairly priced market. The dollar-cost-average investor, which most Bogelheads are, would not be concerned with this. Those who would advise a lump sum investment of 100% of their funds to the Total Stock Market Index ...

The market is overpriced at this time. Not on sale. Of course it can still go higher. The market is priced at exactly the value that those with capital believe it is worth. This is the mantra to remind yourself. It is not overpriced or underpriced. Can liquidity, earnings or other economic changes ...

Most people get a new survey when they buy the house. Perhaps when that survey was done, the surveyor didn't put in boundary stakes. They sometimes charge more to put in stakes. He may have called the surveyor back to just clear up where his property line is and find out who owns the fence. It alway...

The other day, I saw a surveyor working in my neighbor's yard before I left for work. When I got home, I saw that the surveyor had hammered in wooden stakes into what I had thought was my yard. The stakes have written "property line" on them. There is a wooden fence separating my neighbor's propert...

I think Goodman makes a good unit. A Lennox is not 2x as good as a Goodman. That is a ridiculous statement. I couldn't buy a Goodman unit myself to have it installed. And when I priced it out with an installer it was the same price as a major brand unit. You can find bad reviews about any furnaces o...

I'm wondering if unsolicited offers to buy your house have become pervasive nationwide in the US. In my small sample of mostly western US cities, several people I've talked to are also getting a fair number of these "I will buy your home as-is" letters in the mail. The letters I've received all hav...

Zero. Sammy came home early from golf on Sunday and found wife Sandy in bed with his brother Steve. Sammy was heart broken because he and Sandy had been childhood sweethearts and married after high school. Sammy always looked up to Steve as a kid. You see, Sammy and Steve's dad liked to drink and m...

I talked to a Lennox dealer at a Costco today. A 95% efficient furnace with a 2 ton AC unit SEER 16 was in the $6500-$7000 range after about $900 in rebates from the local gas & electrical utility. I just started looking, but this seems a bit high to me. Any advice on how to approach this would be ...

$190/hr does seem like a lot but remember the guy has his truck, equipment & tools (which break and have to be replaced. A good pro power auger is quite expensive). Transport to and from the job. Wages, benefits, insurance, licenses, permits, etc. Not too mention it is an unpleasant job quite often ...

Two possible solutions: 1) Have the line reamed out professionally. Not cheap. Roto-Rooter in my area charges $400 minimum. You can do it yourself with a rented power auger for $50 for 4 hours from Home Depot. You can get augers with 100 foot snakes. You need to access the line somehow. Can you acce...

I am currently considering investing approximately 30% of my portfolio into real estate. Most would be tangible, specifically duplexes (or some other multifamily residence) or inexpensive (sub $150k) single family homes. I would increase liquidity and diversification with some REIT holdings as well...

I can't see how buying a new home for full market value would be a good investment unless the market is superhot or you hold the property for years and years. Otherwise you are stuck. As long as they are still building out the development you will likely not be able to sell it for what you invested....

Read this in an article recently: Dunkin' Donuts, in most areas, no longer makes the donuts in the stores. They are made in a central facility and shipped to the stores. Getting up at 3AM to make the donuts is in the past. I guess you get up to meet the delivery truck. Dunkin' Donuts is really in th...